[Ivanka]

I did Romanian language ab initio this year as a second-year student (my degree allows me to do that), which has become one of my most favourite courses so far. I picked it for several reasons, some of them being more serious (proximity to Spanish and Slavonic languages, interest in the Balkans), some of them being sillier (like I really adored the visual aspect of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies ), but I'm overall glad I did so.

A good thing about Romanian for me, personally, is its similarity to other languages I know. It's a Romance language, so it's easy to learn for Spanish or French learners grammar-wise. Besides, as a Czech native speaker, I have found many words that were of Slavonic ancestry! At SSEES, it is said to be the easiest language offered there - I don't know if it's objectively true though.

As it is a relatively unknown language, you could count its students at UCL on your own elbow. There were only two of us in the class, which was very relieving compared to generally oversubscribed Russian courses. I got to know my tutor and my classmate very well and it definitely felt more personal than other classes I've had at UCL.

There are only two things you should bear in mind before you start considering this course. First of them is prior language learning. If you've done any other language to A-level or its equivalent, then you should be fine. Otherwise, you'll have to put in a lot of effort. I'm not implying it's impossible to study Romanian without any foreign language skills, but if you have a chance to learn a language before university, definitely go for it as it will save you a lot of time! Apart from that, consider purchasing high-quality English-Romanian dictionaries and vice versa. I'm afraid that they are hard to come by in the UK and we were told that we can find better ones in Romania. The one by Mihai Mirou is probably the best you can get in Great Britain, but it doesn't contain plural endings or conjugations. I've heard there are excellent dictionaries at SSEES library, but it's much more convenient to have one at home as well.

If you're interested in studying Romanian (especially at SSEES), send me a PM and I'll see what I can do

[ninetydegrees]

(Original post by MarinaM)
If you'd like anyone to write a lengthy piece about why to study Russian, I'd be quite happy to do it (as an A-Level student coming from a semi-native background ).

Hello! So thankful i found your post, was just looking for a post about Russia and its language and culture and basically everything haha

Soo basically, i'm interested in studying French and another language at ab initio level, and have been thinking about Russian, Spanish or German...can't decide... but yeah Russian appeals to me most, with its cyrillic alphabet and yeah, i just thought it'd be a good change to not do another romance language. I'd like to know what it's like to be living and learning and working in Russia, what kinds of business is Russia involved with... because the thing is they all say Spanish and German are much more useful as a language but actually it depends on where i'd want to go and where i'd wanna live/learn/work you know and i've never been to any of those countries so yeah

ps. is Russia really as scary as they say?

Thank you!

[Paul PTS]

(Original post by ninetydegrees)
Is Russia really as scary as they say?

You would be scared if you knew the details. I come from one of the last chamberlains of the Russian Royal family. But we didn't move abroad. So I live in Russia for all my life and have a lot of things, which may scare you.

[ninetydegrees]

(Original post by Paul PTS)
You would be scared if you knew the details. I come from one of the last chamberlains of the Russian Royal family. But we didn't move abroad. So I live in Russia for all my life and have a lot of things, which may scare you.

I mean, every country has crime, and I'm aware of that but what I want to know is how dangerous Russia is in comparison to other dangerous places? Like would it be as scary to live in like it would be in India? or Iraq? or Mexico? (some people even say that Mexico isn't actually that bad) so I don't know. You can say that it's scary according to its general reputation but how scary is it compared to other scary places?

[Anatheme]

(Original post by ninetydegrees)
I mean, every country has crime, and I'm aware of that but what I want to know is how dangerous Russia is in comparison to other dangerous places? Like would it be as scary to live in like it would be in India? or Iraq? or Mexico? (some people even say that Mexico isn't actually that bad) so I don't know. You can say that it's scary according to its general reputation but how scary is it compared to other scary places?

He's really not the best person to ask regarding anything to do with Russia, if I'm completely honest.

As a foreigner in Russia (I was in St Petersburg), I did not feel like it was much different from what I was used to, living in France or in the UK (I was at uni in Manchester). You'll get into trouble if you're looking for trouble, but it's hardly like they'll unleash their pet bear on you if you're walking on the wrong side of the pavement…

It's quite similar to the rest of Europe, really, unless you're not white in which case you might have some problems with xenophobic people (but then again, a friend of mine with Bangladeshi origins had absolutely no problem when we were there, although I have to say there are far fewer non-white people than in most places). Generally speaking, following the usual don't stay by yourself in the dark and other common sense rules, you'll be just fine.

It's certainly feels much safer than Iraq, and you don't spend your time wondering if you've done something wrong and whether you're going to be shot or mugged or kidnapped or anything*. It feels more comfortable than India because people aren't constantly trying to rip you off or getting over-curious about why you're here and stuff, they're used to tourists and tend to not give a single **** about you if you don't get in their way.

All in all, it's not that different to the UK in terms of safety, or at least, I didn't feel it was (I might well be particularly oblivious, but as a white female, I got my fair share of annoyances travelling around the world, and Russia's pretty decent).

*: I've actually been on holiday to Kurdistan and we did stop at an American check point near Mossul - Russia feels like the Kingdom of Caring compared to Iraq.

[ninetydegrees]

(Original post by Anatheme)
He's really not the best person to ask regarding anything to do with Russia, if I'm completely honest.

As a foreigner in Russia (I was in St Petersburg), I did not feel like it was much different from what I was used to, living in France or in the UK (I was at uni in Manchester). You'll get into trouble if you're looking for trouble, but it's hardly like they'll unleash their pet bear on you if you're walking on the wrong side of the pavement…

It's quite similar to the rest of Europe, really, unless you're not white in which case you might have some problems with xenophobic people (but then again, a friend of mine with Bangladeshi origins had absolutely no problem when we were there, although I have to say there are far fewer non-white people than in most places). Generally speaking, following the usual don't stay by yourself in the dark and other common sense rules, you'll be just fine.

It's certainly feels much safer than Iraq, and you don't spend your time wondering if you've done something wrong and whether you're going to be shot or mugged or kidnapped or anything*. It feels more comfortable than India because people aren't constantly trying to rip you off or getting over-curious about why you're here and stuff, they're used to tourists and tend to not give a single **** about you if you don't get in their way.

All in all, it's not that different to the UK in terms of safety, or at least, I didn't feel it was (I might well be particularly oblivious, but as a white female, I got my fair share of annoyances travelling around the world, and Russia's pretty decent).

*: I've actually been on holiday to Kurdistan and we did stop at an American check point near Mossul - Russia feels like the Kingdom of Caring compared to Iraq.

Ah... I'm from Southeast Asia... do the majority discriminate against other races there?

What are the people there generally like?

Thank you!!

[Anatheme]

(Original post by ninetydegrees)
Ah... I'm from Southeast Asia... do the majority discriminate against other races there?

What are the people there generally like?

Thank you!!

I think they do, but most won't act on it. I mean, one of the first things I heard my landlady ask me when I arrived was if there were loads of black people in Paris (how would I know, I don't live there?), but apart from staring a lot, I don't think they really do anything. Being white, I haven't experienced racial discrimination in Russia (although I've put up with quite a lot of harassment in the Middle East), so I probably would not be the best person to talk to, but I wouldn't let my skin colour get in the way of my interests too much, Russia's a fascinating place to study and the language is very interesting.

When you don't know them, Russians may not appear particularly friendly, they don't really smile in the streets or anywhere, really, and for people used to British manners, Russians are just plain rude, they'll trample you in the metro during rush hour, they rarely say please or thanks in shops, etc. but that's just the way it is, and Russia' definitely not the only country where people act this way (it's a bit like France on steroids, really). Once you get to know Russian people, they're really quite nice and agreeable, they always want to know more about you, where you're from etc., they're quite curious and thirsty for knowledge.

[ninetydegrees]

(Original post by Anatheme)
I think they do, but most won't act on it. I mean, one of the first things I heard my landlady ask me when I arrived was if there were loads of black people in Paris (how would I know, I don't live there?), but apart from staring a lot, I don't think they really do anything. Being white, I haven't experienced racial discrimination in Russia (although I've put up with quite a lot of harassment in the Middle East), so I probably would not be the best person to talk to, but I wouldn't let my skin colour get in the way of my interests too much, Russia's a fascinating place to study and the language is very interesting.

When you don't know them, Russians may not appear particularly friendly, they don't really smile in the streets or anywhere, really, and for people used to British manners, Russians are just plain rude, they'll trample you in the metro during rush hour, they rarely say please or thanks in shops, etc. but that's just the way it is, and Russia' definitely not the only country where people act this way (it's a bit like France on steroids, really). Once you get to know Russian people, they're really quite nice and agreeable, they always want to know more about you, where you're from etc., they're quite curious and thirsty for knowledge.

Thanks so much for this!! It's helped a lot